5190News in Brief

The weekend general elections in the former Soviet
central Asian states of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were
condemned by Organisation for Security and Cooperation
in Europe monitors yesterday as marred by pressure on
the independent media and court orders barring some
opposition candidates. In Kyrgyzstan the president's
son Aider Akayev - with 80% support - was among only
31 of the 75 candidates to gain a first-round
majority.
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A British would-be suicide bomber yesterday admitted
plotting to blow up a packed passenger plane in midair
with an explosive device hidden in his shoe.
Saajid Badat, 25, agreed to board and destroy an
American-bound flight from Europe, three months after
the 9/11 hijackers killed thousands in New York and
Washington.
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Scores of chairs lined the rooms and corridors, and
jugs of coffee and water and trays of figs were ready
to welcome men paying their respects. But the family
of Abdullah Badran, the 21-year-old who blew himself
up at the entrance to a Tel Aviv nightclub on Friday,
killing five Israelis, were left alone in their grief.
For seven days after a burial a Palestinian family
receives mourners, normally a big social event
involving colourful banners and patriotic music.
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By Nopporn Wong-Anan BANGKOK, March 1 (Reuters) - Thai
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has sought rare
advice from critics of his tough stance towards unrest
in the Muslim far south but is unlikely to change
tack, analysts and Muslim leaders said on Tuesday.
Normally intolerant of any criticism, Thaksin has
surprised his opponents by inviting academics and
villagers to come up with proposals to end the
violence peacefully. Nearly 600 people have been
killed in the Thai south in just over a year.
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A British-born Muslim has admitted plotting to blow up
an aircraft bound for America in the first major
prosecution of an al Qaeda terrorist in Britain since
the September 11 attacks. Saajid Badat, 25, had
planned to set off a bomb at the same time as the
British "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who is serving a
life sentence in the United States. But Badat changed
his mind and dismantled his shoe bomb, which was
seized by police at his home in Gloucester in November
2003.
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A British-born Muslim has admitted plotting to blow up
an aircraft bound for America in the first major
prosecution of an al-Qa'ida terrorist in the UK since
the 11 September attacks.
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The embattled Prime Minister of Lebanon, Omar Karami,
announced the resignation of his government yesterday.
The surprise decision was greeted with a roar of
triumph from a crowd gathered in Beirut's Martyrs'
Square to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops.
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SAAJID BADATS guilty plea to conspiracy to destroy,
damage or endanger an aircraft was hailed as a major
success by counter-terrorist detectives and left many
Muslim leaders shocked.
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